A while ago I was disgrunting how I was so into photography and that there were so many inspirations. Then there was me saying I needed an upgrade of equipment so here I shall give a little insight of what I am keeping my eyes for.
The Canon EF 35mm F1.4L USM lens
A while ago, I got myself my a 1.6 cropped DSLR and a decent zoom lens (which was all I could afford at that time). Being really new to the vast world of photography, it was a little hefty investment. I fondled, tweaked and experimented and some 1.5 years later I found myself unwilling to use a flash in my style of photography. Well I wasn't really into flash because they spoil the mood of the picture and of course strobes were not in my league as well. So very often I found myself struggling with the current lens I had which had a minimum f stop of 4.0 which is very hard to work in low light conditions without a flash.
Here's a quick run down of some techinal jargons to help you understand a little better.
In the age of DSLR, every lens have some sort of numbers attached to it, usually in millimetres (mm). Lens with a range like 20 ~ 70mm, 17 ~55mm indicates a zoom lens while a fixed number like 24mm, 35mm indicates a prime lens (zoom by moving your feet). The smaller the number, the wider angle of the lens (Wide angle lens) and the larger the number, the narrower the angle of the lens (Tele-photo lens) is. Wide angle lens can probably capture everyone on a group photo squeezing comfortable while a tele-photo lens can only capture some people on the group photo.
Second is the f stop number usually denotes by f1.4 or f/2.8 or a range like f 4.0 ~ 5.6. This number indicates how wide the aperture or blades inside the lens open. The smaller the number say 1.2, the wider the aperture opens and vice versa. How wide the aperture opens will actually allow you to control the amount of light entering the lens and then finally to the camera sensor. Low numbers will result in a shallow depth of field which simply means that you can actually see the foreground clearly and the background gets blurred. Isolation of the foreground from the blurred background is also known as bokeh which is an exquisite style in most professional photography. It's a pretty in depth field of study so go look up on your own if you are interested. (You won't be disapponted).
The next is the shutter speed which is simply how fast the camera captures the light entering the sensor. This is usually denoted by a fraction like 1/100, 1/400. A fast shutter speed will allow action to be captured with ease while a slow shutter speed will allow motion blur.
The relationship between the f stops and the shutter speed is essential to capture good pictures (This is a pretty basic justifications because there are A LOT of other factors at play to be taken into consideration as well with respect to taking a good picture.) When the f stop is low, more light can enter the camera so a faster shutter speed can be used whereas a high f stop will need a slower shutter speed. Especially in low light conditions or where the use of flash is not permitted, a high f stop will allow a lot of light to enter the camera and thus render an appropriate contrast and color. This have to be partnered with a fast shutter speed because any slight movement of the camera or the subject will blur the image significantly. Specific blurring of the subjects like waterfalls and moving lights, I shall skip them for now.
So there, hope you have a little more insight of what this whole DLSR thingy is about. The bottomline is that if the f stop of the lens is particularly small, it will be an expensive lens and if there is a red "L" marking on Canon lens, it is most definitely priced exorbitantly. Afterall instruments of precision engineering are known for their value and performance so like a sniper rifle's scope, it's usually one hit one "kill".
The lens that I am going for is a 35mm prime lens (not a zoom one). Because I use it on a 1.6 cropped camera body, the lens is equivalent to a 56mm lens on a full size camera. This particular lens is an "L" series of the Canon line up which will mean that it is darn expensive. All the money will go into the material used for the lens and all the precision wonders inside the lens that will probably capture better pictures. Besides that, the F1.4 makes this a fast lens which will allow me to capture images in low light in the abscence of flash. Bokeh is also something that I like and this lens will be able to create that "isolation of the subject" magic. The price in Yen is expensive but at least affordable if I save enuff. Outside Japan, it's pretty insane. All the reviews and photos that I have seen on the net tells me that once this lens is in my aquisition, there is absolutely no turning back.
Hope I can get it soon to experiment it and ready myself for my brother's wedding in Aug 2009. With the current economic uncertainty, burning deep holes in my pockets is really not feasible. The much dreaded cycle happens like almost in every 10 years with the last recession in 1997. Damn!
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